What airport is YHZ?

Why the code is YHZ

Y prefix plus HZ, from the Halifax radio identifier.

This is the explanation in general circulation and it is very likely right, but no primary document has been published that settles it. Treated as an account rather than a fact.

The airport

IATA code

YHZ

ICAO code

CYHZ

Airport

Halifax Stanfield International Airport

City

Halifax, Canada

Code origin

The usual account, unverified

Halifax took in 40 diverted transatlantic flights on 11 September 2001, and nearby Gander took 38 more — the operation that the musical Come From Away is about. Both airports were chosen because they are the first North American fields an eastbound aircraft can reach.

The other code, CYHZ

Every airport has two codes. The three-letter IATA code, YHZ, is the one on your boarding pass and your luggage tag, and it is assigned for commercial use. The four-letter ICAO code, CYHZ, is the one pilots and controllers use, and it is assigned geographically: the first letter or two identify the region, so every airport in the same part of the world shares a prefix. That is why CYHZ looks nothing like YHZ.